We are a registered charity that is here to help survivors of domestic and sexual abuse move forward with their lives. Our aim is a life free from abusive relationships.

John first became involved with Finding Freedom from Abuse in 1975 when he became a board member for 10 years. He re-joined in 2010 and became Chair in 2016 until 2022. Over the years John has seen the charity develop and grow to meet the changing needs of the local community. 

John is now retired, but for 35 years was a practising solicitor in the civil and criminal courts in Hampshire and Dorset, working in all types of Criminal and Civil Law. John was also a part-time County Court judge for 30 years.  

John dedicates a large amount of his time to supporting his local community and a range of charitable organisations. In addition to being a long-standing FFFA trustee, John is a trustee for the Andover Charities, a charity which owns 19 Almshouses and gives grants to people in need. John has also been an active and long-standing member of the Andover Rotary Club, including being its President.

Janet has been a trustee since 2015. She has a lifetime’s experience as a teacher – working with adults, teenagers, primary school children and infants. She believes there is no greater privilege than helping people learn. 

Janet is passionate about equality and justice for women and for children who are powerless to help themselves when family life fails them or hurts them. She has followed the work of the FFFA for nearly 40 years and hopes that serving as trustee might contribute positively to its survival as a refuge, and to its work in outreach, support and education. 

Aside from being a trustee, Janet is also the co-founder of a local wine-tasting group whose aims are learning about wine – she is also helping research a book about some of the wines of Italy, which luckily requires travelling there frequently.  

Sue is Chair of the trustees, and has been a member of FFFA’s Management Committee since 2020. She brings with her a wealth of practical and commercial experience to lead the trustee group and support FFFA’s leadership team. 

Sue spent the last 20 years of her working life at a global business consulting firm, advising businesses and organisations on workforce strategies and leading the implementation of employee related programmes.  She has recently retired from fulltime employment.   

Aside from working with FFFA, Sue also volunteers with a number of local community groups including building a community wellbeing garden within the allotments for local residents to enjoy a therapeutic space in a horticultural setting.  

Meg became a trustee in 2022 and works full time as Group Marketing Director for an Investment company, having spent most of her career working in Financial Services marketing for brands like Aviva, Legal & General, Schroders, Just Retirement and Barclays. 

Meg is keen to play a bigger part in her local community now that her children are older, and having witnessed the effects of domestic abuse, wanted to get involved in something close to her heart. Meg feels the work that the charity does is vital to the local community and is keen to use her marketing skills to help FFFA better communicate its broader offering to a much wider audience.

Meg’s passion is people – and understanding why they do the things they do. Meg has spent a large amount of time studying how individuals make complex decisions and having completed her Masters degree in 2017, is hoping to start her PhD in 2023.

Jerry has recently become a trustee, and currently works as an executive coach providing leadership and management training to senior leaders across a wide range of charities and companies.

His long and successful career has included a variety of senior leadership roles in the charity and not-for-profit including CEO, Deputy CEO, MD and Operations Director for some leading charitable organisations. Jerry’s background was originally in education but for most of his career has focused on social and healthcare – specifically drug and alcohol treatment services – and later employment and training. Jerry holds an OU Diploma in Professional Management and a Diploma in Addiction Studies. Jerry has a huge passion for all things people related, and both people management and organisational development have been the main sources of reward, as well as challenge throughout his career. 

Jerry is currently a trustee for New Directions Support – a Learning Disability charity in Staffordshire where he lives. He has a very personal connection with FFFA as his career literally started there as a Community Service Volunteer and later as a paid member of staff in 1985. 

Jane became our newest trustee in 2023. She moved to Hampshire in 2019 to be nearer family, having spent nearly 30 years in North West England. She has always worked in arts and culture, and has managed theatres and community based arts organisations.

Jane has also had roles in local and regional government and currently works for Arts Council England, the national development agency and funding body for arts, museums and libraries. While in the North West, Jane was a magistrate for 10 years, developing a particular interest in those who suffer abuse.

She is happy to bring together her past experiences to contribute to an area of provision to which she has long been committed.